Bigfoot Barleywine-Style Ale | Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

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For my first official Beer Advocate beer review, I’ve pulled out a special beer for a special occasion. This is the last 2013 Bigfoot Barleywine that I have been holding on to as my first attempt at cellaring/aging a beer. Thinking back to 2013 when I first bad this beer, I remember the strong and biting bitterness of the hops and warmth from the alcohol that overwhelmed my palate at the time. As time and experience with other beers have developed my palate, I am really looking forward to what time has done to this cornerstone of a beer for me. So here we go!
Look: 12 oz bottle poured semi-aggressively into a tulip glass, a beautiful rich mahogany red with two fingers of a light tan head, a few floaties that have settled from aging. Tight and pillowy at first, the head dissipates to a half inch of larger soapy bubbles in the center and creamy froth around the rim after about five minutes, leaving wonderful lacing.
Smell: Immediately caramel hits the nose, with very ripe dark fruits following. Hints of sweet raisins and port wine. Hardly any traces of citrus or piney hops. A completely different creature after 3 years.
Taste: Caramel, cream, vanilla, leather, dark candied fruits. Maybe a nice mild aromatic pipe tobacco? The booze is nowhere to be found in such a big beer compared to its younger self. Only slightly resinous with a hint of mature pine. Really a lovely sweetness like a fresh warm fruitcake. The perfect amount of sweetness and balanced bitterness.
Feel: So very smooth and creamy. Perfectly balanced and still a great medium carbonation. Such a soft and subtle bitterness that lingers on the middle and back of my tongue before disappearing like a dream. It coats the mouth and leaves a delicate bitterness aftertaste reminiscent of citrus, like subtle grapefruit pith.
Overall: One of the most lovely beers I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. The harsh bitterness and sharp edges from 2013 have smoothed and mellowed over time, making this a treat to enjoy on a stormy February evening. It is amazing what time can do to a beer. Being my first (and only at the moment) beer to have aged, I can’t wait to grab a few more bottles of various others to store away for another few years. While I would rate the young and raw version of this beer a 3.43, the 3 year aged version has blown me away beyond my expectations 5/5.

I find it hard to believe that I’ve yet to review Bigfoot. So for my 1450th beer I am finally entering it into my ratings.

This is THE barleywine. It’s a classic, and a standard of the style. Pours a wonderful warm malty-amber with a boquet that changes over time… from a orange/citrusy hop kick to a light toffee/toasted coconut. Big malt backing that develops toffee and chocolate notes over time as well, complementing the citrusy piney hop profile.

I’ve had this fresh and I’ve had this aged and I love it either way. Just don’t drink it out of the bottle, ok?

2001: Hell yeah! A bit raw, but expected for such a young big beer. Lay this baby down for some years and you'll have a totally different beer ... but back to this one.

Dark copper, with a nice patchy foam head. Killer aroma of aggressive hops with a citric sting. A very creamy and smooth beer. Flavour is initially overrun by hops (grapefruity, piney, salty, leafy and raw as all hell), then the big malt sweetness (a tad treacle-like) and alcohol flavours kick in to smooth things out. Fruity? yes. Oh, and by the way, the alcohol is very present, warming and dangerous.

Treat this beer with the utmost respect ... sip and savour.

Anyone look at the inside of the cap? Gotta love that image of 2 campers sitting down with BigFoot and having some brews over a campfire. Hell yeah!

2018 version. Have had this offering every year the past 10 years and still look forward to it's release. The main reason I go out of my way for the SN barley wine is the hop profile of course. Might not be as traditional as many other barley wines but that is exactly why I like it so much. It pours a nice reddish brown with a nice fluffy head and leaves a nice sticky lace all the way down the snifter as it's consumed. I like to swirl the sediment on the bottom of the bottle to get that hazy appearance and add a little more head potential from the yeast, also puts some bread dough in the mix if you look for it. The balance of the hops and the malt is just right for my taste, Sweet caramel with a touch of pine seems perfect and almost too easy to drink. Alcohol is almost non present. I chill the beer cold like any other IPA and take my time sipping it to enjoy the other flavors that unravel as it warms. Molasses and candied yams come to mind later on. Not too heavy going down due to the mid range tiny bubble carbonation profile. Bitterness is present somewhere in the middle to end. Balance is the key to this treat and that's why it works in the this years version as well, as it should and as it has in all earlier vintages. Cheers

I purchased a six pack of the 2012 Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale from Once Upon a Vine in Richmond, Virginia, on April 6, 2012. What followed was a worthwhile test of patience. After three and a half years later, this ale is absolutely superb.

A (4.75): Poured into a tulip glass. Cloudy red amber color with a creamy white head tinged with the slightest bit of honey gold at its edges. The head dissipates quickly, leaving almost no lacing. When held to a light, the ale glows a rusty orange.

S (5.00): Incredibly complex. While pouring, the ale surprises you with a strong malty sweetness with a good bit of cherry and spice. Upon further nosing, the hops that have been subdued over the past few years become evident; mostly piney but with the ever slightest hint of citrus. Alcohol hides behind candied fruit and honey, which certainly take center stage, starting (again) with cherry and working through raspberry and raisin to a sweet almost chocolaty allspice aroma. Everything is subtle and balanced.

T (4.75): Fruit tartness is offset by a molasses sweetness. The taste is flat compared to the smell, but isn't disappointing. More candied fruit that turns into malty sweetness after warming. Molasses lingers on the tongue.

M (5): Take the first sip quickly before the head dissipates for an incredibly smooth and creamy feel that dissolves into a slight dryness. The ever slightest bit of carbonation appear on the roof the mouth but not on the tongue. After the ale settles, there's a viscosity to it that doesn't offend, like very thin syrup.

O (4.875): I wholeheartedly suggest cellaring this ale for at least 18 months. I haven't done a vertical, and I'm not sure how much longer it would have held on after 3.5 years, but it's definitely fantastic after some time to balance and mellow out.

I have not had many barleywine style beers so I was eager to give this category classic a whirl. The beer had a pretty substantial amount of nice looking yellowed white head on top of the rich, well filtered auburn liquid below. Big boozy aromas of caramel and toffee commingled with a pronounced spruce note. The flavor was quite a bit more bitter than I was expecting. This was a fairly fresh 2016 bottle so the hop punch was definitely all up in my grill piece. I would love to get a few more bottles of this to let them age for a while. I want those hops to recede and let the malts shine a lot more. I'm also curious to know where Sierra nevada's rendition of the American barleywine fits in the style bucket. Are they typically quite bitter and hoppy or is Bigfoot an outlier? More delicious research must be done and I'm just the guy to do it.

Delicious. My first barleywine brew to experience. Taste is perfect. From a bottled dated 12/11/15. Poured into a pilsner glass from bottle. Aroma, sweet floral notes, heavy malt. While my nose and palate are young and i have much to learn, this is a complex flavor and scent. I enjoyed this very much. Will probably by my local pub out and try to cellar a few. (If i can abstain from indulging in this powerful and delicious beer.) I havent had a beer from Sierra Nevada that has dissapointed and this is the cream of the crop. Beer Noob opinion, will buy again (: love it!

This is a well balance beer!! There is a ton of Barley (as expected) blended with a mild hoppy taste. Feels great in the mouth. Smells great in the glass. Nice tan head. Some sticky lace. Amber and cloudy in glass.

It's a waste to be a hater, but I gotta be honest. It's like they took a regular off the shelf mass produced Sierra Nevada Ale and threw "something" in the mix to try and make it a "Barleywine". I tried this twice to be sure my palate wasn't off....so many good reviews here. However.....it's just plain terrible. Maybe I got a bad 4-pack:(

Taste is big, strong, and forward. Big malty-sweetness up front, then a huge hit of citrusy-hop bitterness. I get a real strong bitter grapefruit taste near the middle of the palate. Carbonation carries these flavors into the finish that consists of mouth-coating sweetness and hoppiness. Finishes with a present alcohol heat and bite.

The beer is good don't get me wrong, but this isn't something one person should drink. This would ideally be split between two people, not because of the ABV, but because of thickness. It has TONS of flavor, but drinking an entire bottle can be a bit tiring on the palate. I would pair this with a spicy beef chili. It gets a 87/100

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a New Belgium snifter. Pours a dark amber/hazy ruby color with lots of bubbles. 2 finger off-white head of sticky foam. Smells of malt, raisins, grapefruit, honey, with a slight hoppiness. Mouthfeel is quite dense, almost like a stout. Taste is bitter hops, caramel, bready malt, and grapes/raisins. I should add that as this beer warmed up, it became much more malt-forward when it hit my tongue. Very interesting evolution in a short amount of time. I get citrus and malt on the back end with a doughy aftertaste.

This is probably once of the most balanced barleywines I've had so far. It's incredibly smooth and easy to drink for 9.6%. Hell, I'm on my second one and I just finished my dinner. I've always been a fan of Sierra Nevada, but this is my first go at their seasonal releases. I bought 1 four-pack. Now the only choice is to finish this glass and cellar the other two, or finish it off and cellar another 4 pack. Very good beer.

Revisited in depth on 1/22/2016. Same batch (12/18/2014). Numbers adjusted.

I'm not a fan of this style generally, but I couldn't pass up on a 2014 bottle of this I found in a bottle shop. Body is a reddish mahogany color with a rocky, off-white head. Not much lacing or head retention here but I wouldn't expect that from a higher alcohol beer. Smells like over ripe fruit, caramel, and alcohol. Taste is super complex, I actually had some taste bud fatigue afterwards. Lots of dark fruit (raisins, plums), very rich caramel, wood, smoke, chocolate, leather...it's also much hoppier than I thought it would be, although I imagine some of that's faded by now. Getting some resinous and citrus type bitterness. It's overall extremely sweet, but the hops add enough bitterness to keep it from feeling too heavy. It's a good thing too, because this beer borders on a syrupy mouthfeel and needs all the lightening up it can get. Not unpleasantly syrupy in small doses (this isn't a beer you want to exactly chug anyway), and overall pretty smooth and creamy considering the ABV. Alcohol presence is definitely noticeable, a little like scotch. This is one of the more extreme beers I've tried and it isn't something I would want to drink more than once a year, but I can appreciate how intricate the flavors here are.

In my opinion this is the beer that should serve as part of the new standard for an American Barleywine style ale. The hop profile on this is simply divine whether you are drinking a fresh batch beer or one that has aged in the cellar for 2-3 years. If does have minor variation for each vintage year, my favorite so far being circa 2012, but it is consistently excellent. While these are no longer sold in 6-packs and they are a bit pricey, it is certainly worth the cost to buy a couple of 4-packs. Drink 2-3 now and cellar the rest to see how they develop with age.

Just happened to have my computer while I was drinking a glass of this, so call it fate. Here goes my first official BeerAdvocate review.

Look: Gorgeous just barely off-white and silky head sits atop. About an inch of head and isn't going anywhere soon. The liquid a deep ruby with brown tones. This is a beautiful beer!

Smell: Some alcohol phenols and hops on the first sniff. Delve a little deeper and some dark fruits and maltiness pop up. Sweet and enticing aroma.

Taste: A complex one on the tastebuds. First hit is that fresh-hop bite. As it moves over the palate the sweetness opens up and dark fruits (raisins, plums, figs) come to mind. After-taste has it giving way to how big this beer is, although well-hidden, as it warms your body.

Feel: Moderate carbonation, just right for this beer. The mouthfeel is silky and smooth and dangerously drinkable for almost being 10%

Overall: Couldn't be happier having this beer as my first official BA-review. Just a lovely offering on the style, and you can't ask for much more with how available it is. Sierra Nevada after all these years is still making some excellent stuff. Happy to store a few bottles each year to see how they age and develop.

Picked up a sixer of the 2017 bottles to tuck away in the cellar...when I realized I haven't had one of these fresh in over a decade, maybe closer to two. New label looks great and love the six instead of four pack. Pours a garnet, ruby body with a bubbly head. My god the aroma - huge hops (pine, grapefruit, spruce) and doughy malt. Forgot how hop-forward this is. Taste (after it warms a bit) is an upfront burst of pine, grapefruit, blood orange proceeding to candied fruit, honey, dark fruit and roasted malt. Finishes bitter with a good dose of alcohol heat and tobacco-tea like notes. A true beast of a beer that mellows with age.

A: clear dark ruby, persistent, creamy 1 finger head
S: weak, subtle sweetness as well as a touch of salt and caramel
T: hop bitterness up front, heavy malt presence, some caramel malts, has the toasty character of a red ale, has a filling and juicy body but not a fruity character, detected a very (incredibly so, could've imagined it) subtle touch of lychee
M: subtle dryness lent by hop character
O: would likely be enjoyable with some age on it but to me there is no real pay off here, its hop character is assertive but everything else is either pushing the hop bitterness or disappointingly subdued, would not drink it fresh again

Aroma is big- huge hops (resiny, citrusy) dominate but they are backed up by lots of caramel malt. I also pick up a blackberry-and-cream quality, hints of cocoa and, of course, alcohol.

Flavor is powerful- tons of malt and caramel at first, but the cocoa, berries and some nuts come right on afterwards. There is a gigantic bitterness cutting right through it all and there is a lingering finish of orange peel and alcohol.

I'm loving this beer right now- some of its abrasiveness of youth is gone and that lets some more complex characteristics come through, yet there is still some fire there as well.

Taste: Hard to describe. Very astringent with notes of bitter pine sap and grapefruit upfront. The sweetness of the malt slowly creeps in - it's quite savory and chewy. Gradually the flavors of dark red fruits set in, revealing notes of strawberry, sugarplums and raisins. There's a delicious maple syrup/brown sugar presence too.

Feel: Medium with light carbonation. Alcoholic.

Overall: This isn't my go to style of beer, so take my rating with a grain of salt, but I do enjoy a nice Barleywine from time to time. This one makes for a good beer to slowly sip and savor over the course of an evening.

On a side note, the barrel aged version is infinitely better. The time spent in the barrel rounding out some of the harsh edges and really elevating a "great" beer to the rank of "world class".

Taste: wowza. Big, sweet malts reminiscent of an amped up marzen or something, but with a huge splash of juicy piney hops. Alcohol is present, but I think it adds rather than detracts.

Feel: fluffy, medium-thick, and dry. Quite good.

Overall: had this for the first time last year and didn't know quite what to make of it. Suffice to say, my palate has developed, and I think this is a damn fine brew. I'd put it alongside Lukcy Basartd in sheer kickassery, though this is a bit tamer.

2006 Expedition,pours a deep rich amber with a slightly off white one finger head that leaves a light amount of laces behind as it settled,aromas of brown sugar and pine and I mean big on the pine like whole hop cones just beautiful.Very nice medium to full mouthfeel wich is still slick and easy sliding down,this is one of the defining American barley wines at least this years full and sweet up front with brown sugar and dark fruit but a big resiny/piney hop note takes over midway and in to the finish.This is comparable to my personal favorite Old Ruffian in its big hop character,it dont get much better than a big American barley wine in my opinion.